Jaylen Murray scored 16 points, Mikeal Brown-Jones had 14 points and No. 25 Ole Miss held off Colorado State’s rally in the second half for an 84-69 win in Southaven, Miss., on Saturday.
Dre Davis and Malik Dia contributed 11 points each and Matthew Murrell scored 10 for the Rebels (4-0). Ole Miss had only four turnovers and never trailed.
Jalen Lake finished with 21 points, Nique Clifford scored 18 and Jaylen Crocker-Johnson contributed 11 points for the Rams (3-1).
The Rebels scored the first six points of the game and increased their lead to 21-7 on a layup by Brown-Jones to cap an 8-0 run with 13:06 left in the first half.
Lake’s 3-pointer broke a scoring drought of 5:35 for the Rams, but Ole Miss reeled off nine of the next 11 points to make it 30-12 with 8:21 left before halftime. Colorado State managed just six points over the next 4:46 and later trailed 43-19 before closing within 45-26 at intermission.
The Rams shot 40.7 percent in the first half and had nine turnovers that led to 10 points for the Rebels.
Crocker-Johnson opened the second half with two free throws, but Dia hit a turnaround jumper, Murrell drained one from deep and Brown-Jones converted a steal into a layup to give the Rebels a 54-30 lead.
Colorado State started to cut into the lead. Clifford hit a jumper, Kyan Evans made a 3-pointer and Lake hit a couple from behind the arc to pull the Rams within 56-41 with 13:29 left.
Ole Miss led 62-46 after a bucket by Murray, but two free throws by Kyle Jorgensen and 3-pointers by Clifford and Lake got the Rams within 63-54 with 8:24 left.
The Rebels made four free throws out of a timeout, but Colorado State kept pace to trail by nine with 5:43 left. Murray hit a long 3-pointer at the end of the shot clock to give Ole Miss a 70-58 lead, and the Rebels held on.
–Field Level Media
